In this week's episode of the PolicyViz Podcast, I interview Rahul Bhargava from Northeastern University on the topic of data physicalization. We discuss the role of community engagement and societal impact in communicating data and including different people and communities. Our conversation touches upon teaching combined majors at Northeastern and expanding data engagement through Rahul's participatory art methods. We explore the limitations of visual learning and advocate for including...

Amanda Makulec is the current Executive Director of the Data Visualization Society (DVS), and in this week's episode of the PolicyViz Podcast, we discuss her journey and the DVS's evolution as it approaches its fifth anniversary. Amanda shares her experience starting as a volunteer all the way to leading the entire organization. With her second term coming to an end, she emphasizes the importance of term limits and her commitment to ensuring the organization's sustainability by focusing on...

In this week's episode, I chat with Dietmar Offenhuber about his new book, Autographic Design and the concept of autographic data analysis. Dietmar stresses the significance of recognizing the material origins of data and the influence of extraneous variables. He advocates for a qualitative approach that pays attention to data traces, which can uncover deeper narratives. In our conversation, we explore what is meant by autographic design and urge a wider lens on data to grasp multifaceted...

In this week's episode of the podcast, I welcome author, speaker, and professor Alberto Cairo to the show. We discuss his most recent book, The Art of Insight [https://amzn.to/3P2DdTo], and our conversation extends to acquiring reliable data and challenges people across the world face in creating useful and accessible data visualizations. We also discuss the current state of social media as it relates to the data visualization community and Alberto contemplates the future landscape for both...

In this week's episode, we delve into the pivotal role of visual clarity in scientific research. Join me and Professor of Clinical Epidemiology Maarten Boers as we discuss his new book, Data Visualization for Biomedical Scientists. If you are at all interested in being a better science communicator—and especially if you are interested in publishing your work in academic journals—this episode is for you! We talk about how Maarten's book extends beyond the world of biomedical science into good...

On this week's episode of the podcast, we dive into the transformative work of Neighborhood Nexus, led by Tommy Pierce. This civic data intermediary is making waves in Georgia by harnessing the power of data to create a lasting social impact. Here are the highlights of our discussion on how Neighborhood Nexus is revolutionizing the nonprofit sector through data-driven strategies: Topics Discussed * The Mission of Neighborhood Nexus: We explore the core objectives of the organization, which...

On this week's episode of the show, I talk with Nate Braun, author of several Python books, all having to do with sports. Nate shares his journey from having a background in economics to writing books on sports data analysis and visualization using Python. Despite not initially being skilled in coding, Braun was inspired by his work in environmental issues and modeling, leading him to develop fantasy football models and later educational books on coding and data analysis with a focus on...

Happy New Year and welcome back to the PolicyViz Podcast! In this first episode of 2024, I welcome welcome Sheila Pontis and Michael Babwahsingh, authors of the new book Information Design Unbound [https://amzn.to/3UevDJ9]. They delve into the heart of information design, sharing their experiences in creating a pivotal resource for both students and professionals. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the ever-evolving world of design thinking and information...

It's the final episode of 2023! I hope you have a great holiday season and a happy new year! Gulrez is a father of three beautiful kids and works as a Data Science Leader in his day job. He has almost two decades of experience under his belt and has a knack for turning boring numbers into captivating stories. When he's not busy working, you can find him passing on his skills to the next generation in the hopes of creating a world of data literate children. A strong believer in the power of...

William Gray is the guy behind Floor Charts, the website and Twitter feed that documents all things graphic in the US Congress. During the day, Bill oversees the strategic communications efforts at R Street [https://www.rstreet.org/people/william-gray/] and manages its growing Communications team, including overseeing the public relations, digital and events units. He joined the organization in 2020. Previously, William was communications director at Issue One, the leading cross partisan...

Andrea Pacini is the author of the best-selling book Confident Presenter, a presentation coach and Head of Ideas on Stage UK. He specializes in working with business owners, leaders and their teams who want to become more confident presenters. Since 2010 Ideas on Stage has worked with thousands of clients around the world, including organizations like Microsoft, Spotify, eBay, The World Bank and over 500 TEDx speakers. Andrea is on a mission to stop great ideas from failing just because of...

Tomas Pueyo is the author of Uncharted Territories, a newsletter where he tries to deeply understand how the world works to understand where it's going and nudge it in the right direction. He became world viral with his COVID articles, notably The Hammer and the Dance. He has 75,000 readers, and 300,000 on Twitter. Before Uncharted Territories, he has worked in tech companies in Silicon Valley for 15 years. Sponsor: Maryland Institute College of Art MICA's Master of Professional Studies...

Running your own data literacy and data consulting shop is no easy task. And helping customers not only build better visualizations and dashboards, but helping them create a better (or new) data culture is even harder. But Serena Roberts and her team at Moxy Analytics [https://www.moxyanalytics.com/] has been fighting that good fight for a few years now. Serena and I talk about what Moxy is up to, how to build better data teams, getting over imposter syndrome, and much, much more. Sponsor:...

Creating data visualizations in the physical world is not a new phenomenon. Humans have been drawing on walls, tallying money and crops, and carving on stone tablets for thousands of years. Today, though the practice of data visualization is largely done in the digital world, there is an exciting area of working in the physical space--the real world, as it were--to create, share, and communicate data and information. That brings us to the exciting new book, Making with Data...

Welcome back to a whole new season of the PolicyViz Podcast! I'm excited to bring you a whole new exciting slate of guests this year covering a huge array of data visualization and data communication strategies, technologies, and techniques. Maureen Stone (Tableau Research) has been involved with Tableau since 2004, when she was asked to design the initial data colors for Tableau 1.5. She joined the company in late 2011 and became a founding member of the Research Team in 2012. As a member...

Nigel Holmes is a British/American graphic designer, author, and theorist, who focuses on information graphics and information design. Graduating from Royal College of Art in London in 1966, Holmes ran his own successful graphic design practice in England. From 1966 to 1977, he worked as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer for clients such as British Broadcasting Corporation, Ford Motor Company, and Island Records. His work appeared in New Scientist, Radio Times, The Observer, Daily...

Joe Sharpe has been founder and creative director at Applied Works since 2005, a design studio using data visualisation, user-centred design and storytelling to create digital tools and products that drive positive change. Joe also teaches on the BA Graphic Design degree at Kingston School of Art, running an elective pathway for second and third year students that explores how emerging technology is transforming the way we communicate, work, play and consume. Mike Orwell is a digital...

Jonathon Reilly is an innovative and results-driven executive with over 20 years of experience in product management, business development, and operations. As the Co-Founder and COO of Akkio, he has helped create an easy-to-use AI platform that empowers users to build and deploy AI solutions to data problems in minutes. Prior to founding Akkio, Jonathon served as the VP of Product & Marketing at Markforged, where he played a critical role in the company's growth and success. With a...

On this week's episode of the PolicyViz podcast, I chat with Susan Schulten and Georges Hattab, authors of the new books on dataviz luminaries Emma Willard and Etienne-Jules Marey. We talk about these two creators and their impacts on the data visualization field today. Susan Schulten is Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Denver, where she has taught since 1996. Georges Hattab is the Visualization Group Leader at the Center for Artificial Intelligence in...

Micah is a mathematician who likes to use pictures to understand things. He runs a website, hockeyviz.com [http://hockeyviz.com/], where he stores pictures about hockey. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia with his wife and his two children. Episode Notes Micah | Twitter [https://twitter.com/IneffectiveMath] | Site [https://hockeyviz.com/] Bubble physics [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_(physics)] Python [https://www.python.org/] Beautiful Soup...

Jeremy is the author of American Inequality, a biweekly newsletter that uses data visualization to highlight U.S. inequality topics and to drive change in communities. His work has been published in TIME, Bloomberg, and the LA Times. He was a dual-degree masters student at MIT Sloan and the Harvard Kennedy School and was formerly a macro policy strategist at the Federal Reserve. He now works at Google and lives in Brooklyn. Episode Notes Jeremy on Twitter [https://twitter.com/jeremybney] |...

Tristan is a Data Visualization Freelancer [http://www.ladataviz.com/] who likes to combine different techniques to find the best way to represent data. He regularly creates tools [https://tools.ladataviz.com/] and videos [http://www.youtube.com/@ladataviz] to help people build their next projects or level up their skills. Tristan is the 2017 Iron Viz Champion, and current Tableau Visionary. Episode Notes Tristan | Web [http://www.ladataviz.com/] | Twitter [https://tools.ladataviz.com/] |...

Gabrielle Ione Hickmon visits the PolicyViz podcast to discuss her award-winning project on Spades while exploring the intersection of data, art, and history.

Jen Christiansen visits the PolicyViz podcast to discuss scientists using data to tell stories, present their information and create graphics